Silva has a thin political resume

By all accounts, union official Milly Silva is a remarkable woman who has done extraordinarily well amid trying circumstances. For that, she is a role model. That doesn't, however, make her lieutenant governor material now.

One of four children raised by a single Puerto Rican mother in Bronx public housing, she obtained a scholarship in seventh grade to a prestigious middle school, riding New York public transportation for an hour to get there. She graduated from Columbia University.

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Barbara Buono, who herself has fought a tough battle or two, chose the largely unknown Silva to be her running mate. Silva is an official of the Service Employees International Union.

Buono, a veteran New Jersey legislator, got her party's nod in large measure because no other Democrat with name recognition wanted to take on Gov. Chris Christie. Her campaign has been snake-bit from the get-go. While dozens of Democrats have endorsed Christie, one Republican mayor has crossed over from that side to support Buono.

Her selection of a running mate seemed to take forever. About the same time a news conference was called for four days later to announce her decision, Democrats with knowledge of the choice leaked it, so when that news conference was held, the choice of Silva was old news. That's the way things go for the Buono campaign - if something can go wrong, it will.

The problem with Silva is her lack of experience and her apparent lack of respect for the democratic process.

Silva never has held public office at any level. She hasn't worked in an advisory capacity for any public official or public body.

What does a lieutenant governor do? The governor's job when the chief executive is out of state or can't perform because of disability. Short-term travel when you can get the governor on the phone is one thing, but a longer stint is something you don't want left to the inexperienced.

More disturbing is her voting record. Silva, 42, registered to vote in Montclair in 2005 when she was 33.

She first voted in a primary election in 2012, according to records first reviewed by Matt Arco of the website PolitickerNJ.com, who reported she also failed to vote in the last three legislative elections and the last governor's race, in which Christie and running mate Kim Guadagno sent Democrat Jon Corzine packing.

A spokesman for Buono, David Turner, told Arco that Silva discovered she wasn't a registered Democrat when she was selected as a delegate for the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. She was unaffiliated. "She was completely surprised by the fact that she's been listed as unaffiliated when it was brought to her attention," Turner said. Had Silva taken time to vote in a primary, she would have found out much sooner.

The excuse the Buono campaign uses for Silva's lack of voting in 2007 is laughable - that she couldn't get to her polling place in time because she was working in a get-out-the-vote effort. Really?

The campaign said it knew about the voting record when she was vetted, and Silva said she is embarrassed about it but proud of her work that resulted in higher turnout. "If I could go back, I would have absolutely said, 'I need to make sure how to figure out how to get back to my district and to cast my vote.' I am embarrassed about that and it is unfortunate, but I am proud of the fact as an executive of the SEIU, our record shows that we have the ability to mobilize."

The Christie campaign has identified Buono as a throwback to the Corzine years, someone who will tax and spend and take the public employee unions' side instead of representing the taxpayers as employers. The selection of Silva fits right into that scenario.

While Silva is not qualified for the post she seeks now, her future is promising. She should start with a lesser office than lieutenant governor and practice what she preaches - go to the polls and vote.

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Silva has a thin political resume

By all accounts, union official Milly Silva is a remarkable woman who has done extraordinarily well amid trying circumstances. For that, she is a role model. That doesn't, however, make her

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